NJ sports betting locations

Online vs. retail betting

It is no secret that the secret to NJ sports betting has been the online betting side of things.

The state’s industry has taken off since launching in June 2018, as legalized retail and online sportsbooks have taken in nearly $3 billion in wagers over the last year.

About 73% of all bets made during the life of NJ sports betting have come online, via one of the 14 online sportsbooks operating in the Garden State. In 2019 alone, bettors have wagered more than $1.3 billion through betting apps, equating to more than 80% of overall handle in the state.

Retail sportsbooks obviously provide an event-style environment, with tellers, big-screen TVs, lounge chairs, and bars that add even more to the betting experience.

But if some prefer to stay at home, or if they are heading to a watch party or a prior engagement, New Jersey boasts plenty of online options to allow bettors to still make their wagers in time for kickoff.

2020 College Bowl Championship current odds

Summers are filled with the dog days of baseball, a few golf tournaments, maybe even a smattering of tennis action.

For most, though, the summer is a time for building hype. A time for getting to know the college football landscape. A time to get their first wagers on the books.

In New Jersey, bettors can begin laying down money on which team they believe will win the 2020 national championship. Next to each team is a number that is either paired with a plus or minus sign.

The plus sign tells bettors how much money they will win on a $100 bet should their selected team win the title. For example, bettors might find Clemson listed at +200 to go all the way. A Tigers victory, then, would pay $200 on a $100 wager.

Below is a look at the teams favored at some of New Jersey’s top betting apps:

College Football Playoff predictions and betting picks

Once again, it is Clemson and Alabama against the field … if not each other.

Most sportsbooks list the defending champion Tigers as the front-runners for the 2020 CFP National Championship. Others put them second, behind perennial power Alabama, which has advanced to four straight championship games, winning twice.

Heisman Trophy favorites Trevor Lawrence, Clemson’s QB, and Tua Tagovailoa, the Alabama QB, will have the spotlight on them all season. They lead explosive offenses that averaged more than 44 points per game. They also benefit from stout defenses that last season allowed less than 15 points per contest.

Over the past couple years, a few darkhorse programs have emerged that bettors have backed in hopes of Clemson and/or Alabama tripping over themselves.

Georgia is one of those teams, which heads into the 2019 season two years removed from an appearance in the national title game. D’Andre Swift has grabbed the attention of NFL scouts as a go-to running back, potentially even as an early first-round pick.

And no college football season could go without hype surrounding Ohio State and Michigan, two storied programs with fan bases that, in recent history, have had disappointing ends to seasons after lofty expectations.

How the College Football Playoff field is set

Beginning just after the midway point of the regular season, the CFP releases weekly Top 25 rankings. Once the season concludes, a final ranking will paint the picture of the playoffs.

The top four teams will advance to the playoff and will play at either the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona or the Peach Bowl in Atlanta. These semifinal games will take place Dec. 28, and winners will advance to the Jan. 13 national championship in New Orleans.

Types of College Football Playoff bets available in NJ

A variety of betting formats exist in the NJ sports betting world. From wagering on winning margins to simply choosing a winner to predicting a coin toss, options abound for bettors.

Point spread

This is arguably the most familiar betting type to the public. And one the media frequently cites when analyzing matchups.

Sportsbooks determine which teams in any given week should be favored in their respective games. To boot, they predict how much those teams will win by.

When looking at an odds board, bettors will see a decimal number with a minus sign next to it, such as “Clemson -7.5.” This tells bettors that the Tigers are favored by 7.5 points.

They can then wager on Clemson to win by more than that margin (or to “beat the spread”) or for Clemson’s opponent to lose by fewer than that total (known as “covering the spread”).

Underdogs don’t even need to lose to cover. Outright wins provide the same winnings for backers.

Moneyline

This type of bet hinges not on the score, necessarily; simply which team wins.

Bettors will see a three-digit number next to each team, which denotes the moneyline. A minus sign next to that figure indicates the favored team, and a plus sign shows the underdog.

Additionally, these numbers tell bettors either how much they can win on a $100 bet, or how much would need to be wagered in order to win $100.

Alabama as a -200 in a game, for example, means the Crimson Tide are not only favored but also that bettors would need to wager $200 in order to win $100. As a +150 underdog, an Alabama win would pay $150 on a $100 wager.

Totals

Not wanting to back any specific team? Look at the totals.

Prior to kickoff, sportsbooks will predict various totals within a given game. How many points will be scored? How many touchdowns will be scored? You get the idea.

All bettors need to do is decide if less or more than those totals will occur and place their bets.

Futures

For the long-game bettors, the action is with futures.

During the offseason or even during the season, bettors can find futures odds at sportsbooks. Which team will win the national championship? Who will win the Heisman?

Prices will likely be adjusted as the season goes on, so bettors can do some shopping and waiting to find the best value. But whatever price is listed at the time of a wager is the payout bettors will receive if they win.

Prop bets

These types of wagers involve players directly.

Seeing a market that wonders which player will score the first touchdown in a game, for example, is a prop bet.

Props typically revolve around individuals rather than teams. And they certainly add more skin to the sports betting game.

Parlay

Seeing multiple games you want to wager on? Or perhaps you’re looking to increase the payout on certain games?

Parlays are your ticket.

Bettors put money down across several events, combining their bets in a parlay to maximize winnings.

Moneylines, point spread, and totals could all be featured in a parlay. In order to collect, though, bettors must hit every “leg” of the bet. Go undefeated to reap the rewards, because even one loss in a 10-leg parlay will keep bettors from celebrating.

2019-20 college football bowl schedule

There’s a reason winter is perceived as “Bowl Season” for sports fans. There are games almost every day. For almost an entire month.

For just over three weeks, 41 games will take place, keeping all of us entertained through the new year.

Here’s a full schedule of the upcoming college bowl season and College Football Playoffs:

Date

Bowl

Time (ET)

TV

Matchup

December 20

Bahamas

2 p.m.

ESPN

C-USA vs. MAC

December 20

Frisco

7:30 p.m.

ESPN2

AAC vs. Sun Belt

December 21

Celebration

Noon

ABC

MEAC vs. SWAC

December 21

New Mexico

2 p.m.

ESPN

C-USA vs. Mountain West

December 21

Cure

2:30 p.m.

CBSSN

AAC vs. Sun Belt

December 21

Boca Raton

3:30 p.m.

ABC

MAC vs. AAC

December 21

Camellia

5:30 p.m.

ESPN

MAC vs. Sun Belt

December 21

Las Vegas

7:30 p.m.

ABC

Pac-12 vs. Mountain West

December 21

New Orleans

9 p.m.

ESPN

C-USA vs. AAC

December 23

Gasparilla

2:30 p.m.

ESPN

C-USA vs. ACC/AAC

December 24

Hawaii

8 p.m.

ESPN

BYU vs. AAC

December 26

Independence

4 p.m.

ESPN

SEC vs. ACC/Notre Dame

December 26

Quick Lane

8 p.m.

ESPN

Big Ten vs. ACC/Notre Dame

December 27

Military

Noon

ESPN

American vs. ACC/Notre Dame

December 27

Pinstripe

3:20 p.m.

ESPN

Big Ten vs. ACC/Notre Dame

December 27

Texas

6:45 p.m.

ESPN

Big 12 vs. SEC

December 27

Holiday

8 p.m.

FS1

Big Ten vs. Pac-12

December 27

Cheez-It

10:15 p.m.

ESPN

Big 12 vs. Pac-12

December 28

Camping World

Noon

ABC

Big 12 vs. ACC/Notre Dame

December 28

Cotton

Noon

ESPN

At-large vs. At-large

December 28

Fiesta (semifinal)

4 p.m. or 8 p.m.

ESPN

TBA vs. TBA

December 28

Peach (semifinal)

4 p.m. or 8 p.m.

ESPN

TBA vs. TBA

December 30

First Responder

12:30 p.m.

ESPN

Big Ten vs. C-USA/ACC

December 30

Music City

4 p.m.

ESPN

SEC vs. ACC/Big Ten/Notre Dame

December 30

Redbox

4 p.m.

Fox

Big Ten vs. Pac-12

December 30

Orange

8 p.m.

ESPN

ACC vs. Big Ten/SEC/Notre Dame

December 31

Belk

Noon

ESPN

SEC vs. ACC/Notre Dame

December 31

Sun

2 p.m.

CBS

Pac-12 vs. ACC/Notre Dame

December 31

Liberty

3:45 p.m.

ESPN

Big 12 vs. SEC

December 31

Arizona

4:30 p.m.

CBSSN

Mountain West vs. Sun Belt

December 31

Alamo

7:30 p.m.

ESPN

Big 12 vs. Pac-12

January 1

Citrus

1 p.m.

ABC

Big Ten vs. SEC

January 1

Outback

1 p.m.

ESPN

Big Ten vs. SEC

January 1

Rose

5 p.m.

ESPN

Big Ten vs. Pac-12

January 1

Sugar

8:45 p.m.

ESPN

Big 12 vs. SEC

January 2

Gator

7 p.m.

ESPN

SEC vs. ACC/Big Ten/Notre Dame

January 2

Birmingham

3 p.m.

ESPN

SEC vs. AAC

January 3

Famous Idaho Potato

3:30 p.m.

ESPN

MAC vs. Mountain West

January 4

Armed Forces

11:30 a.m.

ESPN

Mountain West vs. Big Ten

January 6

Mobile Alabama

7:30 p.m.

ESPN

MAC vs. Sun Belt

January 13

National Championship

TBA

ESPN

Semifinal winners

When is the 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship?

Just as the NFL playoffs begin, the peak of the College Football Playoff will arrive.

On Jan. 13, 2020, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, the last two teams standing will duke it out for college football supremacy.

How can I watch the CFP title game?

The vast majority of bowl games will air on ESPN. And the College Football Playoff is no different.

Both semifinal games on Dec. 28 will broadcast on ESPN, as will the national championship game.

Brief history of the College Football Playoff

The college playoffs enters its sixth season of existence, after years of the Bowl Championship Series system that determined the national champion.

Four of the five playoff title games involved Alabama, three of which came against Clemson. Only the first college playoff national championship, in 2015, went without a Crimson Tide appearance as Ohio State demolished Oregon 42-20.

Yes, the playoff format of college football has not yielded quite the parity the NCAA certainly hoped for. But hey, at least the template is in place in order to create it.

There has been little shortage of offense in the college football national championship, especially last year.

Then a freshman, Clemson QB Lawrence picked apart the Bama defense. His 347 yards passing and three touchdowns led to a 44-16 demolishing of the Tide.

How historic was that win? Clemson became the first college football team since the turn of the 20th century to finish a season 15-0. It became the first team to go undefeated in the brief history of the College Football Playoff.

One point further: Clemson became the first team to beat Alabama by more than 14 points since Tide coach Nick Saban took over in 2007.

Previous winners

Just because a new championship system went into place five years ago does not mean we should ignore the BCS national champs prior.

Here are the past 10 college football champions:

Date

Site

Result

Jan. 7, 2019

Santa Clara, Calif.

No. 2 Clemson 44, No. 1 Alabama 16

Jan. 8, 2018

Atlanta

No. 4 Alabama 26, No. 3 Georgia 23

Jan. 9, 2017

Tampa, Fla.

No. 2 Clemson 35, No. 1 Alabama 31

Jan. 11, 2016

Glendale, Ariz.

No. 2 Alabama 45, No. 1 Clemson 40

Jan. 12, 2015

Arlington, Tex.

No. 4 Ohio State 42, No. 2 Oregon 20

Jan. 6, 2014

Pasadena, Calif.

No. 1 Florida State 34, No. 2 Auburn 31

Jan. 7, 2013

Miami

No. 2 Alabama 42, No. 1 Notre Dame 14

Jan. 9, 2012

New Orleans

No. 2 Alabama 21, No. 1 LSU 0

Jan. 10, 2011

Glendale, Ariz.

No. 1 Auburn 22, No. 2 Oregon 19

Jan. 7, 2010

Pasadena, Calif.

No. 1 Alabama 37, No. 2 Texas 21

Biggest upsets in NCAA football championship history

Remember the days before college football instituted a playoff system? Way back when? Before 2014?

Well, those days of BCSselections were wild. As were the years prior, when the media voted on which team was crowned the national champion.

As crazy and manic-inducing as those years were, they certainly produced some memorable title tilts.

2006: Texas 41, USC 38

This BCS National Championship remains the standard.

Texas QB Vince Young, runner-up in that season’s Heisman voting, took frustrations out on the man who beat him out (USC RB Reggie Bush) and the guy who took third (USC QB Matt Leinart, who won the ’04 trophy) in a game for the ages.

Young passed for 267 yards and rushed for 200 more. He scored three TDs, including on a game-winning, fourth-down scramble with less than 20 seconds to play.

In leading Texas to its first outright national championship in 36 years, Young also helped the Longhorns snap USC 34-game winning streak and end the Trojans’ hopes of a third straight national title.

1984: Miami 31, Nebraska 30

Few teams ever get to play Cinderella on their home turf. Miami did.

At the Orange Bowl, the Hurricanes were appearing in only the program’s second bowl game since 1967. They faced top-ranked and perennial power Nebraska, which entered the game as a 10-point favorite.

Despite nearly blowing a 17-point lead, as the Cornhuskers narrowed the gap to 31-30 with less than a minute to play, Miami stood tall. That is, thanks in part to Nebraska coach Tom Osborne.

In those days, there was no overtime in college football. Nebraska had just scored a touchdown and could have opted for the point-after kick to tie the game and hope the polls voted the Cornhuskers’ national champs.

Osborne, though, went for the win. Miami denied him, breaking up the potential game-winning pass and securing a monumental upset for The U.

2003: Ohio State 31, Miami 24 (2OT)

From a game where overtime was not an option, Miami found itself hoping it wasn’t one.

The Hurricanes went into the BCS National Championship as 11.5-point favorites, riding a 34-game winning streak into the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona.

Miami had the lead in the first overtime and thought it had it made when a fourth-down pass by Ohio State fell incomplete. But a pass interference call breathed new life into the Buckeyes, who scored three plays later to force a second extra period.

In the second overtime, Ohio State RB Maurice Clarett rushed for his second TD of the night to put the Buckeyes on top. Miami came back and had a fresh set of downs at the 2-yard line.

But Ohio State held serve, allowing just one yard over the next four plays to upend Miami.

College football bowl betting FAQ

When do the 2019-2020 NCAA football bowl games start?

A slate of 40 bowl games spanning just over three weeks kicks off Dec. 20 with the Bahamas Bowl (in the Bahamas) and the Frisco Bowl (in Texas).

Which bowl games are part of the 2020 College Football Playoff?

The top four teams in the final CFP rankings will play in either the Peach Bowl in Atlanta or the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona. The winners from these Dec. 28 semis will advance to the Jan. 13 championship at Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.

How can I watch the 2019-2020 NCAA football bowl games?

The majority of bowl games will be aired on ESPN and its family of networks. Some games will also air on ABC and CBS. Of the noteworthy bowl games, the College Football Playoffs semifinals and championship will all broadcast on ESPN, as will the Sugar, Rose, Orange and Cotton bowls.

Who won the 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship?

Clemson captured its second national title in three years with a 44-16 bashing of top-seeded Alabama.

Can you bet on college football bowl games in New Jersey?

You bet. With one exception: games involving teams from New Jersey or games staged within state lines. Fortunately, not one of the 2019-2020 bowl games are slated to take place in the Garden State.

What colleges are excluded in NJ sports betting?

In terms of Division I, only Rutgers is excluded from legalized betting in New Jersey.

When did the College Football Playoffs replace the Bowl Championship Series?

The NCAA made the change in 2015.

Who’s playing for the 2020 college football national championship?

The season is about to kick off so we don’t know yet who will play in New Orleans on Jan. 13, 2020. However, NJ sportsbooks have Clemson and Alabama as heavy favorites to go all the way.